~ My three favourite pastimes

Things that make me smile

Ella Fitzgerald. Any day, any time, any song. (Check out her amazing impersonation of Louis Armstrong here, about halfway through.)

Fiona Apple. Any day, any time, any song. I haven’t even seen The Nightmare Before Christmas, but this is one of my favourite Fiona songs. So haunting. Amy Lee’s version can’t hold a candle to this one.

Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She lost the Academy Award to Susan Hayward, who won for I Want to Live!. Hayward had been unsuccessfully nominated four times before, so the Academy probably figured it was time she got her due. Taylor is nevertheless brilliant in this role. (The filming here is a little unsteady, but the scene is unforgettable.)